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Seinfeld continues to shine despite low profile
By Jeff Korbelik / Lincoln Journal Star
Friday, Oct 15, 2004 - 12:10:43 am CDT

His fans continue to pose the question, hoping beyond hope his answer has changed.

Someone more than likely will ask it again tonight when comedian Jerry Seinfeld concludes his routines at the Lied Center for Performing Arts with his traditional Q-and-A with the audience.

The question: "Will you do another sitcom?"

The answer: "When hell freezes over."

At least that was the response in April when he co-hosted a sports show on radio station WFAN in New York City.

"Why would I do that?" the New York Post reported him saying. "When you have an experience like that (meaning ‘Seinfeld'), it's like Joe DiMaggio starting another streak.

"I don't think so."

And why should he?

Even though "Seinfeld" ended its nine-year, 180-episode run in May 1998, the show's star continues to shine, despite his relatively low profile.

The 50-year-old has done a couple of tours, financed a documentary based on his 2001 tour and published a children's book about Halloween.

More recently, he appeared in a minimovie for American Express' Web site, with him traveling across the country with an animated Superman. He's also been working on the computer-animated feature "Bee Movie," tentatively scheduled to hit theaters in 2006.

On Nov. 23, the first 40 "Seinfeld" episodes will be released on DVD. The two box sets also will contain commentaries, deleted scenes and bloopers.

His only foray back into television was a cameo last season on friend and "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David's successful HBO comedy, "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Even then, he didn't speak. He played a disgruntled audience member at David's fictional debut in the hit Broadway musical "The Producers."

All of his "Seinfeld" co-stars have returned to the small screen in their own projects but have come up empty.

Michael Richards failed with a self-titled sitcom for NBC, as did Julia Louis-Dreyfuss with "Watching Ellie" on The Peacock Network. Jason Alexander's "Bob Patterson" turned out to be a miserable experiment for ABC, lasting about as long it takes to say "yada, yada, yada."

The jury is still out on Alexander's second effort, "Listen Up," a CBS comedy based on the popular radio, TV and newspaper personality Tony Kornheiser. The sitcom is averaging a respectable 11.2 million viewers each week.

Alexander joked about his chances on a recent episode. A scene referenced Bob Newhart, the veteran comic who had two successful TV shows.

"Wouldn't that be nice," Alexander's character said, the laugh track immediately following the line.

Meanwhile, "Seinfeld" reruns continue to be seen all over the television dial.

The sitcom can be found weeknights at 10 and 10:30 on KSNB (Time Warner Cable channel 4) and 10 and midnight on KPTM (channel 9).

Omaha's KPTM has carried the show since March 2001, and management has no plans to to drop it anytime soon.

"I think it's like ‘M*A*S*H' or ‘Cheers,'" KPTM general manager Randy Oswald said. "They are evergreen shows that just have the right chemistry among the individual actors."

"Seinfeld" does well in the Omaha market for KPTM in the Nielsen Media Research ratings, particularly among adults ages 18 to 34, a prized advertising demographic.

In the May 2004 book, the sitcom trailed evening newscasts on KETV (channel 7) and WOWT (channel 6) but was dead even with the one on KM3 (channel 3) in the 18-to-34 demographic, Oswald said.

Advertisers have responded. "The (time slot) is highly desirable for (them)," he said. "That's when you'll see ads for movies, cars and things like that. It's a fairly easy sell."
As was a $78 ticket to see the comic live.

Seinfeld sold out his first show hours after the Lied box office opened, prompting him to add a second performance. Tickets went just as fast for that one.

No show, other than a touring Broadway production, could get away with a ticket price that high in Lincoln. Other tickets sold for $63 and $48, the usual high-end price for most other performances.

Lied executive director Charles Henry Bethea wasn't surprised Lincoln fans gobbled tickets up quickly at that price. Seinfeld is a popular culture icon, he said.

"In my view, he's moved into the realm of legendary," Bethea said. "You see a lot of people go up and down, but he's just there."

As the years pass, Seinfeld's mystique continues to grow. As does his material.

The jokes the audience will hear tonight are new. Now married with two young children, his new life has provided a ton of funny fodder for him to share.

"Jerry is a good comedian," Bethea said. "He's accessible. He reaches his audiences with a broad range of jokes. He's a funny guy."

You just won't hear any of those jokes on another sitcom.

"I am old. I am rich. And I am tired," he responded to an audience member's question about returning to TV during a March performance in Boise, Idaho.

"Not bloody likely."

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.

If you go
What: Jerry Seinfeld
Where: Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St.
When: 7 and 9:30 tonight
Tickets: $78, $63 and $48
Note: A limited number of tickets remain for each show